This again? I guess nobody told them Germany's E-Ship 1 completed sea-trials in 2010 and has been carrying cargo for for 6 years. And a 10% improvement in fuel efficiency seems pretty lame when the Irish are aiming to build a fleet of 100% renewably powered hybrid sailing cargo ships; http://www.b9energy.co.uk/B9Shipping/tabid/4036/language/en-US/Default.aspx

10% ? That's what Skysail equipped ships are already getting - at lower costs; http://www.skysails.info/english/skysails-marine/skysails-propulsion-for-cargo-ships/

Make them vertical wind turbines.

Lad, maybe one container ship is the equivalent of 50 million cars in pollutants BUT one ship also carries a lot more freight. A lot more. When you factor in the amount of cargo that is moved shipping has the lowest emissions. Here are some numbers I dug up:

- Air cargo - 0.8063 kg of CO2 per Ton-Mile
- Truck - 0.1693 kg of CO2 per Ton-Mile
- Train - 0.1048 kg of CO2 per Ton-Mile
- Sea freight - 0.0403 kg of CO2 per Ton-Mile

What people don't realize is that sulphur in these fuels is an important nutrient for plant growth. A company in North Dakota was required (rightly so) to remove sulphur from its stack emissions, and it now sells the sulphur in bags, not only to neighboring farms but to all of US, The NOx that the engine generates is also plant food. The CO2 that the engines produce is clearly plant food. Crude oil was formed, at least partially, from plant and animal growth and retains many of the elements in the original plants. These engines could be operated most of the time in lean burn mode and already do at least some of the time and adjusted to produce the most NOx, not the least, and heat extracted from the exhaust with an organic rankine cycle to produce electricity with cooling from sea-water. Then the exhaust is fed directly into sea water to absorb sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides Carbon dioxide, trace minerals and a small amount of hydrocarbons which can be eaten for energy by micro organisms. Much of this is already being done simply by the "smog" falling on the ocean surface, but this process could be vastly or half-vastly improved by very good mixing of exhaust and sea-water. Yes the sea-water is becoming less alkaline with the addition of CO2 but there is no way the Larger Seas will become actually acidic because of the massive concentration of calcium and magnesium ions in the water. Plants and animals reduce the CO2 in the sea by forming and holding carbohydrates and other organic materials and poison the earths atmosphere with more oxygen. Ships could also be required to inject into the water with their exhaust sufficient trace minerals to produce enough algae growth to absorb all of the CO2 released. and this would be one of the lowest cost methods available of CO2 reduction and indirectly collecting solar energy where solar cells are difficult to place.

Co-generation of heat-cooling and electricity, by many means including Micro-turbines is right now the fastest cheapest way to reduce CO2 release where natural gas is available except perhaps these ships where CO2 can be highly absorbed by the water. The Reagan library, recently much in the news, is heated cooled and lighted by co-generation.

The floating human created debris in the ocean can be collected and destroyed by ships with Wet air oxidation tanks. At 270 degrees Centigrade more or less, water will oxidize organic materials in it. CO2 could be directly absorbed by the ocean or collected as liquid. Energy from the heat produced could be use to move the collecting boat and inject the air into the oxidation tanks. Living or dead plants and animal can be sieved out of the water for emergency fuel. ..HG..